


Stutter

by thedragonthateatsitstail (goodbye_sweetie)



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Embarrassed Cullen, F/M, Fluff, Tumblr Prompt, stutter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-17
Updated: 2014-04-17
Packaged: 2018-01-19 18:03:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1479016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goodbye_sweetie/pseuds/thedragonthateatsitstail
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cullen was a leader now, strong and courageous.  He hadn't stuttered since his time in Kinloch Hold, yet somehow the Inquisitor had made his sentences difficult and stringing conscious thought impossible.  Why did this always happen to him?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stutter

He had been sent to the Inquisitor’s stronghold to help her end the mage rebellion and fight the Red Templars. He was told little of her eminence other than she was a vicious fighter and an excellent strategist. She had been put into power because she alone could stop the ensuing chaos of their world. What he had not been told was that she was a giant qunari woman who had a distinct distaste for templars due to her status as an apostate. 

She was at least a foot and a half taller than Cullen and when she spoke it seemed more like she spoke at him than to him. Her words were always direct, and she expected for her orders to be followed with only truly vitally important questions asked. Cullen had spoken up twice during her war room meetings, questioning the positioning of some of her men against their lyrium addled opponents. Each time he was met with a penetrating gaze that made his jaw tense and his knees quiver. She only ever nodded and moved the pieces accordingly before going back to her directions. He was never sure if she was disregarding him, or simply hated him for being a templar. Either option was terrible, and it seemed that he had already found his way onto her worship’s bad side. 

He had met Varric years ago due to their mutual acquaintance of Hawke, so really it should have been to no one’s surprise when Cullen confessed his worries to Varric first. ”Is she always so.. intense?” Varric laughed at him and shook his head as if Cullen had made the best joke in the kingdom. ”I would suppose so, but she must like you, Templar. The last of your order that questioned her like that got tossed out the room, quite literally. Don’t worry Noodles, if she hated you. You would most certainly know.”

It was little comfort and in the following weeks, he could feel her eyes on him as he moved around the barracks. It was as if she was looking for fault in his every move. When ever he caught her staring, she would not look away instead she would raise her pierced eyebrow and wait for him to break eye contact. During party discussions, every once and a while she would look over at him and the others would silence themselves so that he could speak. He had to speak slowly so that the bumbling stutter of his youth did not betray his nervousness. She had been targeting him, trying to break him, and it took almost a month for him to finally speak up.

He had gone to the war room to face the indomitable Inquisitor, when he had walked in on her braiding her hair. He had expected to find her moving pieces on the board or writing letters to the nobility to garner troops. The closer to battle they got, the longer she would spend in there; no food or drink just her and the pawns on her board. She looked so beautiful like this, her white hair glimmering from the light of the fire and her golden earrings shining as they caught the light perfectly. She hummed some tune he had never heard under her breath as her fingers twined through long strands of hair twisting them into braids more complicated than ship knots. The letter she was reading on the table seemed to be incredibly dull, as he had watched her read the same sentence three times.

It took another two minutes of standing awkwardly in her peripheral vision before she finally looked up at him. ”What do you need Cullen? I assume you haven’t come to read all of these complaints for me.” The sigh that followed her statement betrayed how exhausted she was. Perhaps she was not the wall of cold steel that he had assumed. 

"No, ummm, your worship. Actually I came t-to ask… Ah, never mind, it is stupid." The words came out jumbled and sputtering. He wasn’t sure if he was embarrassed about walking in on such an intimate moment, or maybe it was how those golden eyes flashed in interest when she had finally noticed him. 

"Speak your mind, Knight Captain. There is very little in this world that offends me anymore." Her tone sounded apathetic with just a tinge of curiosity. She was still pulling at his armor with her eyes. Given a little more time, he feared she would be able to tell him all of his secrets. "I-I,it sounds silly really. I just… it um, it seems like… have I done something to offend you?"

Her eyebrow arched delicately again, and for a brief second he wondered if it hurt when she had gotten all of her piercings. She was so exotic to him. He had thought he had met every character possible in his time with the templars, yet here was a mage with the skills of a warrior and the appearance of a qunari. She was a true rarity.

Saaranaan coughed for a moment clearly uncomfortable with his lingering gaze and the awkward silence. She never had been the best at expressing these kinds of things, that was what poets and politicians like Varric and Vivienne were for. ”No, Knight Captain. You have done nothing to offend me. I am… sorry to have made you think such. I know I am a bit… intimidating. I am afraid it comes with the horns.” She gestured upwards and quirked her lips in what Cullen assumed was a very charming attempt at a joke. He laughed a little and found a bit of a grin replaced his worried grimace. He always was terrible with speaking to strong attractive women. “Oh, and I apologize if I have made you uncomfortable Knight Captain. Sera had made some… interesting observations about you. I sometimes forget that staring is rude.” 

Cullen’s cheeks went red and his eyes turned downwards. He knew exactly what Sera had been saying about him. The others were more than happy to tease him about it. Varric had once described the Inquisitor as “direct” and now Cullen knew exactly what he meant. ”Umm… thank you, your Worship. I-I have something to go tend to, at the stables… I-I should go.” As he fled into the hallway with a quick bow, he heard her throaty laugh behind him. If he hadn’t been so incredibly embarrassed he would have hoped to see it himself. Perhaps another time, when he wasn’t making a complete bloody fool of himself.

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: He stutters for the first time in years when he and the Inquisitor finally have a moment to speak.
> 
> This is a fill for my Tumblr 300 Follower Appreciation Prompt Giveaway.
> 
>  
> 
> Unedited: I will probably work the second Cullen prompt as a continuation to this. I am a bit undecided on it still.


End file.
